If Democrats were smart and had an effective messaging machine, they'd be the ones promoting the GOP's agenda whenever possible.

But they're not, and they don't.

So the GOP will win, do the exact same shit that caused the messes we have, and voters will wonder why we're still not moving forward as a nation.

Maybe if the country had a charismatic leader capable of showing some sort of passion and belief in his or her progressive ideas ...

You mean no one but me thinks that the GOP will simply claim to have a mandate to do whatever it is they want to do if they win back a house regardless of what they actually campaign on?

Agree with Old School above - they'll claim a mandate regardless if they win. Simple as that.

No James is wrong - if the GOP said in detail what they'd do they'd lose.

And no it really doesnt' make much of a difference if you gain a "mandate".

All that matters is winning right now. And if they can keeping attacking and their opponents won't do the same - it just makes the opponents look like wimpy losers.

As long as they don't get a determined, go for the jugular counter attack, of course they'll keep coming. Look the Southern Strategy worked. The pre Irag campaign worked. Why would this be any different?

If the Democratic national apparatus can't fill the void then with their scary threat of what the GOP would do with control, then they (we) don't deserve to prevail in these elecions. MSM bias aside, 2008 proved a progressive candidate can beat the noise machine. I happen to believe the conventional wisdom is in for a shock when the actual campaign begins and when the votes are counted because there is still room for a fight over the economy, which is the reason the wingers appear to be ahead right now, and they will not prevail in a real fight. 9/11 Mosque Summer is not fair measure of where the country really is.

The Republicans are betting on a strategy that makes the voter out to be a contestant on Let's Make a Deal where they entice the voter to choose door number 2 when he may already be holding a more valuable item, only to get jacked with a negative result.

Republicans, by using vague, iconic language are hoping the American voter will choose uncertain outcomes over a more reasoned approach to the ballot because they know the unassuming American wants more, better, now, and many times can't see the central issue before him.

This time around the central issue is the incomplete middle class take over of our government!

A vote for a Democrat may help achieve the eventual goal of equitable tax policy (pay as you can, and begin taxing unearned income), sustainable energy policies (cutting tax breaks for the oil industry while funding viable research and development for the benefit of middle class energy users), and guaranteeing Constitutional rights for all Americans (not just the chosen few who have the most resources to gain the most access and outcome).

If you have politically confused loved ones as I have, you may agree with me that this election cycle is crucial; and if liberty for all, justice for all and sanity for all are important concerns we share, we must begin early and often to kindly lead our loved ones to more clarity regarding their socio-political and economic interests!

A vote for Republicans this year is a vote for the ghost of Monica Lewinsky! -Kevo

"Oldschool" is right expcept he left out the part about the Dems rolling into a fetal position and giving up and letting the Reps do whatever they want.

I'm with ManOutOfTime. The campaign hasn't begun yet. I think CW is in for a shock.

Boehner is better , there he said it . McConnell just wants his power back . My golly it is all so cute and cuddly .
What could possibly be wrong with letting the Ari Fleischers , Georgie booschies , chinnie , dainty brain karl rove have at the remaining pieces of our nation . They can take it because they are just such decent adulty , grown uppy little race baiting , class baiting , ethnic baiting good old fear mongering sorts . The great dignity of no less than Jonah Goldberg is saying it , and Hugh Hewitt scares me when he talks about the scary something or other Democratic party , which is to be neutered this time .
Ha ha ha ha , we really got it over on them !
The Democratic Party was neutered in the run up to the Al Gore presidency .

re "... they could credibly claim a mandate ..."

Bush/Cheney 2000 proved that conservatives don't need an electoral mandate to implement their agenda when in power.

Boehner/McConnell 2008 proved that conservatives don't need a majority to implement their agenda when not in power.

Part of this is simply "it's easier to destroy (governance, community) than to create". Part of it is also Democrats/Liberals/Progressives refusing to catch up to the new rules of the game, at every step.

Next up, Boehner/Obama 2010 aim to prove that the House power of the purse can make the House more powerful than the Presidency. Obama needs to understand that defacto-President Boehner is going to be writing his legacy, unless he gets bold in a hurry.

There's that Dem problem that they want to win politely, while the GOP just wants to win.

The election of Barack Obama was the last, desperate attempt of decent, sane Americans to save their country from disaster. It failed. The people we elected, from the president on down, mostly mean well (giving them the benefit of the doubt), but are too cowardly and incompetent to accomplish their mission. Consequently, the country will not be saved from disaster. The barbarians will take over, and the uber-capitalists will devour what's left of the economy down to its bones and move on. The American people are about to learn a bitter lesson: how to live like millions of others around the world, off of whose misery we built our prosperity. God help my grandchildren!

Why don't the Democrats just advertise what the Republicans will do, and let the Republicans deny it, if it isn't true. Reality is they cannot deny, for fear of alienating the base.

It's the first rule of politics: Define your opponents before they define themselves.

If the Democrats can't pounce on this, they're hopeless. I thought the "This Is How They Would Govern" spots (with footage of Barton apologizing to BP, etc.) were solid; what happened to those?

But then, this is what happens in a two-party system. You win elections simply by being less disliked than the other guy.

My guess is that even if the GOP manages to take control of Congress in 2010, due to a lack of actual policy ideas (aside from cutting taxes, of course), all they will succeed in doing is reminding the public of how badly they screwed up the country from 2000-2006.

They will nominate Palin in 2012 because the opposition to her will be splintered, Obama will be re-elcted in a landslide, and the Dems will win back more seats in Congress than they lose in 2010.

Considering that the actual campaign hasn't even started yet, I'd say there is an awful lot of wishful thinking being passed off as factual reporting right now.
We know that the majority USUALLY loses seats during mid-term elections; not always however, as 1934 will attest. A great deal will depend on how effective the Democratic Party is in comparing itself and what is has done with what the Republicans threaten to do if they gain a majority. Properly done, that alone would guarantee that the Republicans don't receive a single "independent" vote. Without those "independent" voters, there will be NO Republican gains in November and, quite possibly, some very unexpected losses.
Then there are the rhetorical abilities of President Obama, expecially when he is campaign mode. The Republicans are very capable at stirring up those who ALREADY believe in the GOP; President Obama, however, has the talent to impart part of his vision for this country to those who listen to his speeches. A heart-felt phrase lifted from a Presidential speech and placed into dozens of Congressional political ads can do wonders during the course of a campaign.
Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if the Republicans don't make ANY gains this November; they may win some seats held by Democrats, but I do not believe they will, in addition, hold EVERY seat they currently do.
Swings and round-abouts, you know...

I'm probaby in the minority, but I don't assume the Republicans will take back either chamber of congress.

Say the Dems flip one or two seats in the House, that would mean the Repubs would have to flip around 40 seats to gain a majority. That's a tall order to assume is a given for an election over 2 months from now. In fact it's downright silly.

Back in 2006, when the Dems led every generic ballot by a couple of points, combined with probably the most toxic environment ever for a political party, the Dems gained 26 0r 28 seats if I'm not mistaken.

I don't think the environment is as bad for Democrats now as it was for Republicans then, and the Repubs and Dems are just about tied on most generic ballots (excluding gallop). To just assume a net gain of 40 seats or so, for an election over 2 months from now, with both sides pretty much tied on generic ballots just seems pretty silly to me.

The Republicans are ruling by fear and EVERYONE not an avowed progressive on economic issues is cowering and appeasing. They are using craziness to great advantage. America is the most dangerous country on Earth.

Here's a graph tracking the mid-term changes in the past 50yrs:
http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2010/Senate/Maps/Sep01-s.html#2

@MARK D: maybe you're not paying attention, but Democrats are putting out ads that make it very clear what the GOP agenda entails. TPM posts political ads all the time and the ones from Dems have been excellent. These are actual ads in actual campaigns - not just an online video.

Mandate my foot. Democrats control the Congress and the Presidency and they should be jamming out Keynesian stimuli left and more left right now. Democrats control the White House, House and Senate, like once every 20 years so when it finally happened they should've over reached as far as possible.

An economy running close to stall speed probably cannot endure much in the way of Republican monkey business before it spirals down again. Shut down the government, roil the Treasury bond markets, and any era of Republican dominance will be occasioned by another Great Recession.

"Assuming (as I do) that the GOP will take at least the House, and possibly the Senate..."

That's a pipe dream. The Republicans will most likely pick up seats but I don't see them winning back either chamber. Of course, they have been schooled in the thought that if you say something loud enoungh and often enough it will become true.

We Democrats are famous for pulling defeat from the jaws of victory but I just don't see it happening this year.

Dodd is right that Republicans are probably making a mistake hiding their political agenda before the elections.

No, he isn't. For one thing, the Republican agenda is and remains deeply unpopular.

For another, the history of the last decade shows us that the Republicans will claim a mandate anyway (and the stenographers in the so-called "liberal media" will duly report it as fact).

Look, we've seen this movie before. Yes, Gingrich got the House back in 1994. But doing so encouraged Republicans to act like Republicans, which furthered their unpopularity. And after the disasters of Republican rule in the '00s, voters aren't going to look kindly on a re-run of the mendacity, incompetence and corruption that's what you get when you elect Republicans.

The Republicans are betting on a strategy that makes the voter out to be a contestant on Let's Make a Deal where they entice the voter to choose door number 2 when he may already be holding a more valuable item, only to get jacked with a negative result.

translation services

During those later Clinton years, horrible things like financial deregulation passed - and Clinton was an enabler (along with his geeky Streety hacks Geitner and Summers, that Obama foolishly picked up.)